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Julee Planke
A Better Place

I believe that there is a heaven. I think that Earth is just the place that determines if you are going to go there or not. There can't just be this, this small world that we live in can't be the end of our lives. For most people life has been a long and difficult journey with few laughs and many disappointments. It scares me that I don’t know what is going to happen when I die, but I feel in my heart that I will see my Nani and Poppy, who passed away when I was little. When it is my time to leave I will be with them again. I believe there’s a better place.


In most religions it is important to be the best you can be so you will go to heaven in the afterlife and not to hell. The Jehovah Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people will make it to heaven after they died. Some people believe in reincarnation, the belief that you will come back to earth as something or someone else. I have no idea what exactly I believe will happen to a person when they die, but I do believe that there is a better place than earth. A place where people are just happy. There aren’t any criminals, murders or rapists. Some people believe that Earth is another world's hell. I don’t know if I really agree with that, but I don’t think people just decay in a box for the rest of eternity. That is no way to be left.


When my Grandma was in the hospital, I saw many people dealing with death. Everyone reacts differently when they are about to die. Some people act happy, they feel like it is their time to leave and that they are going to a better place, that's how I want to be to feel. They are surrounded by their family and people who love them. Other people react in a different way and feel like it isn’t their time to leave yet. I don’t know the reasons why people do that. Maybe it is because they are afraid of what is going to happen to them once they leave.



Every single day I feel that my Nani and Poppy are somewhere, I don’t know where and that scares me. I believe they are happy though. My other grandma used to make jokes that they are in heaven together hanging out in the sun, sharing a drink and a laugh. I can pray and talk to them whenever I want to. Even though they don’t answer back I know they are listening.


This world is just a temporary home for everyone, no one will stay here forever. I don’t believe that everyone goes to a better place, that wouldn’t be fair. I think the people that do deserve it. We should live the life we are living now to the fullest, but patiently wait for the one that we will be living in the future. This one life can’t be the end of the road. I believe there is a better place.


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